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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling Rivalry-Describe why you love your sister/brother but cannot get along with them.

My brother is nearly seven years younger than I am. We haven't really gotten along since the day he was born, as he was SUPPOSED to be a baby sister. :) Seriously, though, I loved having a baby in the house...until he got to be a toddler and was able to wander into my room. Then my favorite refrain became "Moooooooooooooommmmmmm.....get this PEST out of my room!!!"

Once he got past that stage, though, I was again happy to take on the role of big sister, having him trail after me and want to do whatever I was doing. I enjoyed the attention, I suppose. What I quickly did not enjoy, however, was being the one who got into trouble when HE did something wrong...our mother used the logic that I was the oldest, I should know better, and so I should somehow have been able to control HIS actions.

Which leads to the reason I believe we have a very distant relationship right now. To me, at least, it always seemed that Mom was setting us up against each other: that he was the perfect one, and I was the "bad one." I love my brother, and I'm very proud of the person that he has become. I wish that we could be closer, and have more of a presence in each other's lives...but it is what it is.

I have an only child and everyone is always telling me how I'm depriving him of a sibling, like they're guaranteed to be best friends for life. I know it's not always like that but I do let others guilt me about this more than I should. So thanks for sharing this post.

BTW: I'm stopping by from Moms Tree House. I also did a prompt of hers, which you can find here: http://tofindtheline.blogspot.com/2011/04/interviewing-maddox.html

Totally could relate, I'm the oldest and responsible for my siblings. I find I get along with my two younger ones but the second oldest, well, we tried. we now talk and found a common ground. Thanks for participating.

I can relate to this in many ways. I love my brother now, but when we were children I often felt exactly the opposite & I do remember my mother blaming me for many things that he did, because I was older (about 3 years) & should have been able to control what he did?Stopping by from The Writer's Club to say hi!

I can see how you would feel you were set up for failure in a relationship with your brother. I hope to remember, as my girls grow, that the older one CANNOT be responsible for her younger sister's actions, even if she was there. Each child is a person on their own and should be responsible for their behavior.